Popovich reminds team much work remains

The Spurs left Chicago late Thursday night, some of them bound for Los Angeles and the All-Star Game, some of them bound for San Antonio and some of them eventually bound for vacation spots unknown.

They left still in possession of the NBA’s top record, a franchise-best 46-10 even after a 109-99 loss to the Bulls, and with a reminder from coach Gregg Popovich about how much work remains once they return from the All-Star break.

“I don’t want a feeling of accomplishment to creep into our coaches or our players or anything like that,” said Popovich, who was off to coach the Western Conference squad in Sunday’s All-Star Game. “To date, we have a good record. But nothing of importance has been accomplished yet.”

The Spurs hit the break on the heels of another mostly successful rodeo trip. They completed it with a mark of 6-3, their ninth non-losing trip in as many seasons, but went 1-2 against teams with winning records.

Once the All-Star party ends in Los Angeles, the Spurs will have 26 regular-season games remaining, beginning with Wednesday’s return to the AT&T Center against Oklahoma City.

Among the Spurs’ most general post-break goals: Holding on to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and to the top overall record in the NBA. They hit the break six games up on Dallas in the West, and five ahead of Boston for the league’s overall top seed.

“We’ve created a big responsibility for us to finish well,” All-Star guard Manu Ginobili said. “We’ve got a great opportunity, and we need to take advantage of it.”

NOVAK WAITS: For many players, the All-Star break is a time to relax and decompress. For Spurs forward Steve Novak, it could be a time to stress out.

Novak completed the 10th day of his 10-day contract with Thursday’s game in Chicago. The Spurs could opt to sign him to a second 10-day contract, but are likely to wait until after the break to decide whether to do so.

“I’m not sure how they’re going to handle it,” said Novak, who has appeared in five games with the Spurs. “Just have to wait and see.”

SPLITTER ON CLOCK: The All-Star break also stands to be a critical time for rookie center Tiago Splitter. With time running out for Splitter to find a place in Popovich’s playoff rotation, the break will afford him extra time to nurse his latest injury, a strained left hamstring suffered Feb. 9 in Toronto.

Sent home for the final two games of the rodeo trip, Splitter will have had two weeks to rest his injury by the time Spurs resume play Wednesday.

Splitter has appeared in 41 games this season, averaging 11 minutes, 11 seconds of playing time. On the rodeo trip, Splitter’s sore hamstring cost him at least two prime opportunities to receive minutes, in blowout victories over Washington and New Jersey.

“There really aren’t enough minutes to train him right now,” Popovich said. “Whenever we’ve gotten the opportunity, we’ve gotten him on the floor. Unfortunately for us and for him, he hasn’t been as much a part of the mix as we thought he would be.”